Vodafone, O2 and Three are all running trials of the futuristic network technology and are using these as a test bed while they develop services.

In early November, Three said it was well into work to prepare its network for 5G by boosting capacity and installing hardware that will work with existing and faster, future networks.

Vodafone said its trial in Manchester was now part of its “commercial network” and similar sites in five other cities would soon start. It has given no date for when it would offer a 5G service.

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O2’s test systems are based around the O2 arena in London and it is also running other trials in locations around the UK. It has written to every company in the UK FTSE 100 inviting them to join tests of how the new mobile tech could help their businesses.

Image copyrightReutersImage caption Goverments have quizzed Huawei about the security of its hardware

The announcement comes soon after the government wrote to UK telecoms firms warning those building 5G networks to take care when selecting which hardware they use.

The letter, reported in the Financial Times, said a review of hardware used for the UK’s national infrastructure started in July could delay any rollout.

It said the review could place limits on how much equipment firms could use from Chinese electronics firm Huawei.

Huawei has been stopped in Australia and the US from being used for 5G networks.